Friday, March 07, 2008

Did you know that Hugo Chavez paid Colombian rebels $300 million to make dirty bombs? You didn't know? Good, because if you do hear that you ought to know in advance that it is all a lie.

This is scary. Colombia invaded Ecuador, a sovereign nation by the way, in hot pursuit of FARC rebels who want to over throw that government.

Colombia claims to have found a laptop belonging to a FARC leader they killed, and claims that it contains hard evidence of a Hugo Chavez plot to buy uranium and make dirty bombs.

“… With relation to the 300, which from now on we will call “dossier,” efforts are now going forward at the instructions of the boss to the cojo [slang term for ‘cripple’], which I will explain in a separate note. Let’s call the boss Ángel, and the cripple Ernesto.”300 what? That is the question you should be asking and the answer is not millions of dollars, it is 300 people in a hostage exchange. Chavez was working on the exchange as part of an agreement he had with the government of Colombia.

“To receive the three freed ones, Chavez proposes three options: Plan A. Do it to via of a ‘humanitarian caravan’; one that will involve Venezuela, France, the Vatican[?], Switzerland, European Union, democrats [civil society], Argentina, Red Cross, etc.”Hostage exchange or millions of dollars? You be the judge. But wait, there is more.

To bolster their case, the Colombians claim, with no evidence whatsoever, that the mysterious “Angel” is the code name for Chavez. But in the memo, Chavez goes by the code name … Chavez.

While Latin American nations are in an uproar over this violation of international law, Bush is ecstatic that his guy, Colombian President Uribe, has stabbed Chavez in the back and created turmoil in Latin America. That is not surprising but Clinton's and Obama's support for Uribe ought to be. Here is Hillary's take:

Rather than criticizing Colombia's actions in combating terrorist groups in the border regions, Venezuela and Ecuador should work with their neighbor to ensure that their territories no longer serve as safe havens for terrorist groups. After reviewing this situation, I am hopeful that the government of Ecuador will determine that its interests lie in closer cooperation with Colombia on this issue.

"The Colombian people have suffered for more than four decades at the hands of a brutal terrorist insurgency, and the Colombian government has every right to defend itself against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The recent targeted killing of a senior FARC leader must not be used as a pretense to ratchet up tensions or to threaten the stability of the region.

Well, he is nothing if not consistent. If "targeted killing" is OK for Israel it should be OK for anyone else.

It is a disgrace that both Democratic candidates think it is acceptable for Ecuador's sovereignty to be violated. As we say at Black Agenda Report, they are in fact political twins. Actually they sound like McCain and Bush. They are all political quadruplets.

Margaret Kimberley

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margaretkimberley at gmail dot com

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